Community Schools Resources

This briefing highlighted community schools as an evidence-based approach for school improvement for education stakeholders to consider under ESSA. The Learning Policy Institute shared its findings and recommendations on community schools as a means to school improvement, based on a study it recently conducted with the National Education Policy Center.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides funding to meet the educational needs of low-achieving schoolchildren. A new landmark study finds that community schools are effective at improving educational outcomes for children in high poverty communities. Teachers College and Children's Aid hosted leading scholars, policy makers, and practitioners who discussed the future of community schools in New York City and New York State.

The Learning Policy Institute and our partners at the Coalition for Community Schools, Communities In Schools, and the Center for American Progress hosted a conversation with leaders on community schools. Panelists discussed how to implement a community schools strategy at scale and how local and state education policy can support this crucial work.

Decades of research show that whole child education is essential to students' academic and life success and can reduce the negative effects of poverty on achievement. Speakers at this briefing examined federal policy levers that state and local policymakers can use to invest in research-based whole child approaches to learning, including integrated student supports, community schools, and other approaches that foster academic enrichment.

How can districts design new schedules to expand learning time for students and accelerate learning? In the third of a five-part series, panelists discussed reimagining the traditional school day through such strategies as partnerships with community-based organizations and community school approaches. They also discussed how high-quality expanded learning initiatives support students’ development of critical skills, as well as their social and emotional well-being.

The U.S. Department of Education virtual Professional Learning Series takes an in-depth look at how community schools can transform student learning and outcomes. The series examines programs from across the country, explores ways that community school approaches can further whole child learning, and digs into the ways that pandemic federal relief funding (including American Rescue Plan funds) have been used to support community schools.

As state policymakers consider solutions to chronic absence, much can be learned from community schools and other whole child approaches, which have emerged as research-based strategies to address barriers to attendance and help schools reengage students.